Construction Industry News
The urgent need for European countries to reduce gas consumption, combined with the available EU funds for the energy transition, creates political incentives to provide subsidies for renewable energy projects, including solar and battery energy storage. Governments are introducing schemes that can accelerate the development of expensive applications and emerging technologies such as agrivoltaic energy.
Italy, which recently received the first payment of €21 billion ($23.53 billion) from the Next Generation EU fund to propel the recovery after the pandemic, is an example of abundant public support. The country is currently working on two programs for the agricultural sector. The first focuses on rooftop PV installations for energy-intensive farms at the 375 MW Agrisolar Park (“Parco Agrisolare” in Italian), while the second is still under negotiation.
“The Italian government will make €1.5 billion available for just 375 MW of installations for the Agrisolar Park, bringing the cost of these subsidized solar systems, including batteries, roofing and vehicle charging stations, to almost €4,000/kW. On the market, a roof installation with the same characteristics costs up to three times less”, says Mauro Moroni, ambassador for energy transition of Kiwa Italia.
According to Moroni, the regime is recalling the tax deduction linked to the 110% tax deduction for energy efficiency and small systems for the residential sector, which "has caused disruptions to domestic systems over the past two years, driving up installation costs" . He adds that similar programs could delay some of the decisions already made to invest private funds, while creating a damaging image for the industry.
In order to improve this first scheme, Mastrandrea calls for the removal of the self-consumption condition in the scheme. “I would prefer feeding electricity back into the grid as many sheds can host PV installations. Support for agriculture could increase food and energy security for energy end users in the surrounding areas,” he said. The decree on the Agrisolar Park is still pending in Brussels, and Mipaaf is waiting for feedback.
The farmers' association adds that Italy can meet 60% to 70% of its energy needs by installing PV systems on 0.2% of its usable farmland. "If we look at the number of abandoned farmlands every year, we can see that the energy element is coming at the right time," concluded Mastrandrea.
“As things stand, you do need subsidies for innovative technologies that could not otherwise be used, such as floating solar energy. In these cases, grants make it possible to reduce investment risk,” said Carlotta Piantieri, associate at Aurora Energy Research. “Ground mounted solar economy is already solid at market prices and with PPA contracts. Subsidies are not necessary," concludes Piantieri.
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